In a singular moment for American history, the hush money trial of former president Donald Trump begins Monday with jury selection. It’s the first criminal trial of a former commander in chief and the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial. Because Trump is the presumptive nominee for this year’s Republican ticket, the trial will also produce the head-spinning split-screen of a presidential candidate spending his days in court and, he has said, “campaigning during the night”. And to some extent, it is a trial of the justice system itself as it grapples with a defendant who has used his enormous prominence to assail the judge, his daughter, the district attorney, some witnesses and the allegations, all while blasting the legitimacy of a legal structure that he insists has been appropriated by his political opponents. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
16 April,2024 06:32 AM IST | New York | AgenciesLightning and heavy rains have killed at least 36 people, mostly farmers, across Pakistan in the past three days, officials said Monday, as authorities in the country’s southwest declared a state of emergency. Most of the deaths occurred when lightning struck farmers harvesting wheat and rains caused houses to collapse in eastern Punjab province, said Arfan Kathia, a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority. He said more rains were expected this week. Rains, which also lashed the capital Islamabad, killed seven people in southwestern Baluchistan province over the weekend, and eight others died in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Authorities in Baluchistan declared a state of emergency. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
16 April,2024 06:30 AM IST | Islamabad | AgenciesMore civilians died across Ukraine on Sunday as analysts warned that delays in US military assistance would see Kyiv struggle to fight off Russian offensives. One man was Sunday killed after a Russian drone hit the truck he was driving in the Sumy region. Elsewhere, a 67-year-old woman was killed after shelling in Donetsk, said Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Officials in Kharkiv region also said Sunday that they had retrieved the bodies of a 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man killed by a Russian strike the previous day. Ten Russian Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kharkiv region overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday. Meanwhile, shelling in the Russian-occupied Kherson region killed two civilians Sunday, said Moscow-installed leader Vladimir Saldo. Ukrainian drones were also reported in Russia’s Krasnodar and Belgorod regions and over the Black Sea. The news came as the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, warned that delays in Western military assistance would increasingly hamper Ukraine’s ability to push back Russian advances. Feb 24Day Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
16 April,2024 06:25 AM IST | Kyiv | AgenciesA yearlong war in Sudan has devastated the country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. Top diplomats and aid groups are meeting Monday in Paris to drum up humanitarian support for the northeastern African nation to prevent further collapse and misery. Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting across the country. The UN humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, health care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan. So far, funders have given only $145 million (about 5 per cent). This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
16 April,2024 06:23 AM IST | Paris | AgenciesThe US destroyed more than 80 UAVs and at least six ballistic missiles launched by Iran at Israel, the Pentagon said. This includes a ballistic missile on its launcher vehicle and seven UAVs destroyed on the ground in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen prior to their launch, the US Central Command said. Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, which Tehran said was in response to the April 1 strike on its consulate in Syria. Almost all Iranian drones and missiles were shot down by Israeli, US and allied forces before they reached their targets. On Saturday and Sunday morning, US CENTCOM forces, supported by US European Command destroyers, successfully engaged and destroyed more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen, the media note said. “Iran’s continued unprecedented, reckless behaviour endangers regional stability and the safety of U.S. and coalition forces. CENTCOM remains postured to support Israel’s defence against these dangerous actions by Iran. We will continue to work with all our regional partners to increase regional security,” it said. The G-7 leaders on Sunday unequivocally condemned in the strongest terms Iran’s direct and unprecedented attack against Israel, saying the development risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. Hamas proposes new ceasefire Displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza City. Pic/AP After rejecting the Israeli proposal of a ceasefire amid the continuing hostilities in Gaza, Hamas presented a ceasefire and hostage release deal to mediators, demanding that Israel observe a six-week ceasefire before it receives any of the 129 hostages. The terror group’s proposal was reportedly submitted after it rejected the US-mediated deal on Saturday. Israel thanks US military for aid The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, spoke Sunday morning with the Commander of the US Military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Erik Kurilla. The Chief of Staff expressed great appreciation for the joint defence effort to thwart and intercept the Iranian missile attack on Israel overnight. World can’t afford more war: UN Addressing the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the ‘Middle East’ was on the brink, adding that neither the region nor the world can afford more war. “We have a shared responsibility to work for peace. Regional—and indeed global—peace and security are being undermined by the hour. Neither the region nor the world can afford more war,” Guterres said in his statement. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
16 April,2024 06:18 AM IST | Washington | AgenciesIn a singular moment in American history, the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump begins Monday with jury selection. It's the first criminal trial of a former commander-in-chief and the first of Trump's four indictments to go to trial. Because Trump is the presumptive nominee for this year's Republican ticket, the trial will also produce the head-spinning split-screen of a presidential candidate spending his days in court and, he has said, "campaigning during the night". And to some extent, it is a trial of the justice system itself as it grapples with a defendant who has used his enormous prominence to assail the judge, his daughter, the district attorney, some witnesses and the allegations " all while blasting the legitimacy of a legal structure that he insists has been appropriated by his political opponents. Against that backdrop, scores of ordinary citizens are due to be called Monday into a cavernous room in a utilitarian courthouse to determine whether they can serve, fairly and impartially, on the jury. "The ultimate issue is whether the prospective jurors can assure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law," Judge Juan M Merchan wrote in an April 8 filing. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious " and, he says, bogus " stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign. The charges centre on $130,000 in payments that Trump's company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump's behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public, a month before the election, with her claims of a sexual encounter with the married mogul a decade earlier. Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees in order to cloak their actual purpose. Trump's lawyers say the disbursements indeed were legal expenses, not a cover-up. Trump himself casts the case, and his other indictments elsewhere, as a broad "weaponization of law enforcement" by Democratic prosecutors and officials. He maintains they are orchestrating sham charges in hopes of impeding his presidential run. After decades of fielding and initiating lawsuits, the businessman-turned-politician now faces a trial that could result in up to four years in prison if he's convicted, though a no-jail sentence also would be possible. Regardless of the eventual outcome, the trial of an ex-president and current candidate is a moment of extraordinary gravity for the American political system, as well as for Trump himself. Such a scenario would have once seemed unthinkable to many Americans, even for a president whose tenure left a trail of shattered norms, including twice being impeached and acquitted by the Senate. The scene inside the courtroom may be greeted with a spectacle outside. When Trump was arraigned last year, police broke up small skirmishes between his supporters and protesters near the courthouse in a tiny park, where a local Republican group has planned a pro-Trump rally Monday. Trump's attorneys lost a bid to get the hush money case dismissed and have since repeatedly sought to delay it, prompting a flurry of last-minute appeals court hearings last week. Among other things, Trump's lawyers maintain that the jury pool in overwhelmingly Democratic Manhattan has been tainted by negative publicity about Trump and that the case should be moved elsewhere. An appeals judge turned down an emergency request to delay the trial while the change-of-venue request goes to a group of appellate judges, who are set to consider it in the coming weeks. Manhattan prosecutors have countered that a lot of the publicity stems from Trump's comments and that questioning will tease out whether prospective jurors can put aside any preconceptions they may have. There's no reason, prosecutors said, to think that 12 fair and impartial people can't be found amid Manhattan's roughly 1.4 million adult residents. The process of choosing those 12, plus six alternates, will begin with scores of people filing into Merchan's courtroom. They will be known only by number, as he has ordered their names to be kept secret from everyone except prosecutors, Trump and their legal teams. After hearing some basics about the case and jury service, the prospective jurors will be asked to raise their hands if they believe they cannot serve or be fair and impartial. Those who do so will be excused, according to Merchan's filing last week. The rest will be eligible for questioning. The 42 preapproved, sometimes multi-pronged queries include background basics but also reflect the uniqueness of the case. "Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current candidate for president, that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?" asks one question. Others ask about attendance at Trump or anti-Trump rallies, opinions on how he's being treated in the case, news sources and more " including any "political, moral, intellectual, or religious beliefs or opinions" that might "slant" a prospective juror's approach to the case. Based on the answers, the attorneys can ask a judge to eliminate people "for cause" if they meet certain criteria for being unable to serve or be unbiased. The lawyers also can use "peremptory challenges" to nix 10 potential jurors and two prospective alternates without giving a reason. "If you're going to strike everybody who's either a Republican or a Democrat," the judge observed at a February hearing, "you're going to run out of peremptory challenges very quickly." This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 10:29 AM IST | New York | APPresident Joe Biden is set to host Iraq's leader this week for talks that come as tensions across the Middle East have soared over the war in Gaza and Iran's unprecedented weekend attack on Israel in retaliation for an Israeli military strike against an Iranian facility in Syria. The sharp rise in security fears has raised further questions about the viability of the two-decade American military presence in Iraq, through which portions of Iran's Saturday drone and missile attack on Israel flew or were launched from. A US Patriot battery in Irbil, Iraq, knocked down at least one Iranian ballistic missile, according to American officials. In addition, Iranian proxies have initiated attacks against US interests throughout the region from inside Iraq, making Monday's meeting between Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani all the more critical. The talks will include a discussion of regional stability and future US troop deployments but will also focus on economic, trade and energy issues that have become a major priority for Iraq's government, according to US officials. Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are both expected to address the US troop presence in meetings with al-Sudani. "It is not the primary focus of the visit " but it is almost certainly going to come up," one senior US official said last week. The US and Iraq began formal talks in January about ending the coalition created to help the Iraqi government fight the Islamic State, with some 2,000 US troops remaining in the country under an agreement with Baghdad. Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of those forces. The two countries have a delicate relationship due in part to Iran's considerable sway in Iraq, where a coalition of Iran-backed groups brought al-Sudani to power in October 2022. The US in recent months has urged Iraq to do more to prevent attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria that have further roiled the Middle East in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Iran's weekend attacks on Israel through Iraqi airspace have further underscored US concerns, although al-Sudani had already left Baghdad and was en route to Washington when the drones and missiles were launched. The US has also sought to apply financial pressure over Baghdad's relationship with Tehran, restricting Iraq's access to its own dollars in an effort to stamp out money laundering said to benefit Iran and Syria. Most previous Iraqi prime ministers have visited Washington earlier in their tenure. Al-Sudani's visit was delayed because of tensions between the US and Iran and regional escalation, including the Gaza war and the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan in a drone attack in late January. That was followed by a US strike that killed a leader in the Kataib Hezbollah militia whom Washington accused of planning and participating in attacks on US troops. Al-Sudani came to power in late 2022 after a power struggle between prominent Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Sadr and opposing Shiite factions that are close to Iran after the 2021 elections. Sadr ultimately withdrew from the political process, giving the opportunity to the remaining Shia politicians to form a government headed by al-Sudani. Since then, al-Sudani has attempted to maintain a balancing act between Iran and America despite being seen as being close to Tehran and despite several incidents that have put his government in an embarrassing position in relation to Washington. Early in al-Sudani's term, a US citizen, Stephen Edward Troell, was shot and killed by armed men who accosted him as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad's central Karrada district with his family. An Iraqi criminal court convicted five men last August and sentenced them to life in prison in the case, which officials described as a kidnapping gone wrong. A few months later, Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian doctoral student at Princeton, was kidnapped while doing research in Iraq. Al-Sudani's visit will come about a year after Tsurkov's abduction. She is believed to be held by Kataib Hezbollah. The senior US official said Tsurkov's case would also be raised. "We are concerned by and closely tracking this case," the official said. "We have strongly condemned her abduction. We've urged ... and continue to urge senior Iraqi officials to find Elizabeth and to secure her release as soon as possible." Al-Sudani started his term with promises to focus on economic development and fight corruption, but his government has faced economic difficulties, including a discrepancy in the official and market exchange rates between the Iraqi dinar and the US dollar. The currency issues came in part as a result of a US tightening of the dollar supply to Iraq, as part of a crackdown on money laundering and smuggling of funds to Iran. The US has disallowed more than 20 Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars as part of the campaign. The al-Sudani government recently renewed Iraq's contract to purchase natural gas from Iran for another five years, which could lead to American displeasure. The Iraqi prime minister will return to Iraq and meet with the Turkish president following his trip to Washington, which could finally lead to a solution to a long-running dispute over exports of oil from Kurdish areas of Iraq to Turkey. Washington has sought to get the flow of oil to resume. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 09:58 AM IST | Washington DC | APThe area surrounding the southern Italian city of Naples and Mount Vesuvius was shaken by an earthquake on Sunday morning, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said, putting the magnitude at a low level of 3.7. As has often been the case in recent months, the epicentre was said to be in Italy's large volcanic region of the Phlegraean Fields, west of Naples. There were initially no reports of casualties, and the fire brigade reported no major damage. However, the earthquake and subsequent weaker tremors were clearly felt in several areas of Naples and the surrounding area. Parts of Italy are all too familiar with earthquakes, which often prove deadly, and several media reported that many people were frightened and took to the streets in panic. The Phlegraean Fields, an area of high volcanic activity in the Campania region of southern Italy, have been hit by many small earthquakes for some time. Mostly, however, these are small and barely noticeable tremors that weaken the earth's crust in the area. Researchers have repeatedly warned of this phenomenon. For 11 years, the area has been on yellow alert, which calls for caution. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 08:43 AM IST | Rome | IANSThe Egyptian government categorically denied the rumours circulated by some media outlets and social media platforms about the emergency closure of Egyptian airspace on Sunday. The Media Centre of the Egyptian Cabinet clarified in a statement issued today that air navigation in all Egyptian airports is operating normally without any interruption. The centre confirmed the continuation of all flights at Egyptian airports according to the usual schedules, except for some flights heading to countries that have closed their airspace due to regional events. Regarding EgyptAir flights, the company announced the suspension of its flights to and from airports in Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon only, due to the closure of airspace in these countries. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 07:45 AM IST | Abu Dhabi | AgenciesHundreds of people erupted in protest on the streets of the Niger capital, demanding the withdrawal of US troops after the military rulers further shifted their strategy by ending a defence accord with the US and welcoming Russian military instructors, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday. Marching arm in arm through central Niamey, the crowd waved Nigerien flags, recalling anti-French protests that spurred the withdrawal of France’s forces from Niger last year after an army coup. One handwritten sign in English read “USA rush out of Niger”, in a show of support for the military government and its decision in mid-March to revoke an accord that had allowed US personnel to operate on its territory. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 07:43 AM IST | Niamey | AgenciesThe police on Sunday identified the assailant who stabbed and killed six people at a busy Sydney shopping centre before a police officer fatally shot him. New South Wales Police said that Joel Cauchi, 40, was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city’s eastern suburbs and not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach. NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters at a media conference on Sunday that Cauchi suffered from yet unspecified mental health issues and police investigators weren’t treating the attack as terrorism-related. “We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage, it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved,” Cooke said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
15 April,2024 07:40 AM IST | Sydney | AgenciesADVERTISEMENT
